2025-2026 Game 13: San Diego Gulls vs Abbotsford Canucks

San Diego, California. With the echoes of a dramatic overtime win over the Bakersfield Condors still reverberating around the Pechanga Arena the San Diego Gulls hoped to keep the wins coming as they faced off with the bottom of division dwelling Abbotsford Canucks.

Despite the win over Bakersfield the forward lines were thrown into a blender with some pairs of forwards kept together but ultimately every single line sporting a new look. Sam Colangelo, Tim Washe and Matthew Phillips formed a brand new top line while the ever dependable Pastujov and Mysak combination were joined by the red-hot Justin Bailey on the second line. Ryan Carpenter and Nico Myatovic were kept together but joined by Cal Burke on the third trio and finally Yegor Sidorov, Nathan Gaucher and Judd Caulfield made up the fourth line.

Defensive pairings remained the same.

Ville Husso was once again given the start on the back to back with Tomas Suchanek backing up once again.

Travis Howe and Roman Kinal were the only scratches, Calle Clang still remained away from the team for personal reasons and Owen Lindmark was announced as being sent to Tulsa earlier in the day.

First Period:

San Diego looked ready from the drop of the puck as the new look top line created two high chances in close within the first minute of a half of play.

The concerning trend of taking the games first penalty continued as Nico Myatovic was caught on an obvious tripping call. The Gulls penalty kill went through the motions with some slightly concerning moments – particularly allowing Canucks puck carriers to skate directly into the crease but Ville Husso remained sharp in net. Justin Bailey continued his phenomenal hot streak and human highlight reel pace as he intercepted and deflected a pass around the Canucks defender to set up his own shorthanded break. His speed again proving too much as he easily shifted the Abbotsford goaltender to open up a shot to open the scoring. 1-0 Gulls.

The stream cut out momentarily and when it came back Jan Mysak was embroiled in a fight with the Canucks Joe Arnstsen and held his own in the bout though I am not entirely sure what brought it on.

As play resumed after the time-out a nice pass by Noah Warren to head-man Judd Caulfield into the Abbotsford zone saw the inspired power forward muscle his way passed a check and then show some very soft hands and deft edges as he swiftly moved into the low slot and fire a quick snap shot to beat Canucks goaltender Ty Young. 2-0 Gulls.

The action settled somewhat for the net few minutes but when the fourth line took to the ice again some beautiful passing on entry into the Abbotsford zone saw Judd Caulfield get his second of the night as Nathan Gaucher hit him with a perfect feed. 3-0 Gulls.

The bad penalties trend continued as Sasha Pastujov was called for hooking with just under three minutes left in the period but the Gulls looked much better with their four man units this time and as Nathan Gaucher broke away for a partial break – behind the play Stian Solberg drew a call as he got mixed up with a Canucks player that caught him up high with his stick.

The Gulls taking a 3-0 lead into the first intermission, trailing in shots 9-8 but looking the more dominant and confident squad. The shot map showing Abbotsford generating some quality looks but being let down by their young goaltender.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 3 – Abbotsford Canucks 0

Expecting some push back from a wounded Canucks squad the Gulls instead continued to push the offense, adding another to their tally as the Captain Ryan Carpenter out muscled a defender at the right post and cleaned up a rebound created by a Cal Burke shot to make it 4-0. 4-0 Gulls.

Soon after the goal the Canucks started to play physical and in a word – dirty – in an attempt to throw San Diego off their game. Nathan Gaucher took exception to a very late hit and on the shift immediately after Noah Warren dropped the gloves with Abbotsford captain Chase Wourters for his first AHL fight after getting involved in a board battle.

Abbotsford managed to mount some more shots and possession in the Gulls zone but Ville Husso was his usual calm collected self, deflecting pucks to the corners to restart a breakout. Another obvious slashing call – this time to Justin Bailey – sent the Gulls back to the penalty box but again they had no issue killing the minor as they swarmed the Canucks in their zone to win board battles and get clear after clear.

Returning to five on five Justin Bailey drew a call of his own as he was harassed carrying the puck on a cycle through the Abbotsford zone but the Canucks were able to kill the minor as their young goaltender made some nice stops on cross-ice passes made to the Gulls one-time trigger men Sashas Pastujov and Sam Colangelo.

The bad habit of penalty taking continued as Noah Warren was called for slashing minutes later to put the Gulls down a man again, with four minutes left in the period but San Diego again killed the minor without much trouble except for perhaps maybe one heart stopping moment when a Canucks dump-in took a very strange bounce to almost trickle into a vacant Gulls net as Ville Husso skated out to play it.

A Jan Mysak partial break drew another call as he was rugby tackled before he could get a shot away but the Gulls could not get a good look with the remaining time left in the period and headed to the second intermission up 4-0 and seemingly in cruise control as they headed to the dressing room.

Shots were 11-5 San Diego and 19-14 overall for the Gulls with the shot map showing they did a much better job of boxing out in front while still keeping the pressure on in the offensive zone.

Third Period: San Diego Gulls 4 – Abbotsford Canucks 0

The start of the third went much like the end of the second with the Gulls having some significant issues with staying out of the penalty box. First Tristan Luneau was guilty of a slashing call and then Stian Solberg four minutes later. San Diego killed the minors with relative ease but the six to three ratio of penalties taken was starting to bring back memories of previous losing seasons.

After play returned to five on five the top line added to the lead as Matthew Phillips sent a hard low shot from the right side that was kicked right out to Sam Colangelo waiting in the slot. The sniper looking almost bored as he non-nonchalantly hammered it by the Canucks goaltender. 5-0 Gulls.

Back to back penalties to the Canucks – including a dirty hit to the head on Tyson Hinds – saw the Gulls spend thirty seconds at five on three but they didn’t need all of it as Matthew Phillips and Tim Washe combined to set up Sasha Pastujov at the side of the net. 6-0 Gulls.

As the Officials felt they were starting to lose control of the game they opted to give Stian Solberg and Nathan Gaucher as well as Joseph LaBate and Joe Arntsen matching roughing and misconduct penalties after yet another post-whistle cross-checking match between squads.

The fire appeared to go out for the Canucks soon after as the Gulls tallied their seventh to make it 7-0. The play started by Nik Brouillard stick handling the puck into the zone and all the way to the net before having it dislodged from him but the Gulls retrieval seeing Roland McKeown hammer two shots on net – the second of which becoming a shot-pass to a lone Justin Bailey by the side of the net. 7-0 Gulls.

San Diego controlling the rest of the action and taking the 7-0 win to put up back to back wins and keep their point streak going.

Post Game Notes:

Still Need to Clean Up The Penalties

In the last six games the Gulls have taken 6, 3, 2, 10, 5, 3 penalties – a total of 29 over that stretch. Compare that to the start of the season – they took 1, 3, 5, 2, 6, 5 – a total of 22 through their first six games. They are finding ways to win but if they continue to take stupid penalties it is going to come back and bite them.

Hot and Cold

With another two goals tonight Justin Bailey jumps into a tie with Tim Washe for the team lead in goals and now has four game winners to co-lead the entire league with the Admirals Daniel Carr. His speed has been unstoppable and his high-emotion play has been evident in big moments.

Tim Washe also continued his point streak and his seven goals has him tied for first with four other players in goals by first year players. He is also tied for second in rookie scoring with 13 points in 13 games.

The Gulls finally have a player in the top twenty in scoring and its scoring leader Matthew Phillips – he sits tied for seventh in scoring with six other players with 15 points in 13 games.

Yegor Sidorov has been eerily quiet lately. Up until this game he had been pointless for three games straight after putting up three points against Henderson at the start of the month and has been goal-less for four games now. The Gulls brass seem pro-active in switching up lines in order to get suddenly cold players going again – the best example being the Justin Bailey line movements. Now that Bailey is scorching hot I think it would be a good idea to similarly get Sidorov going again, placing him on the fourth line – albeit still with some special teams time – doesn’t seem the best way to do that. Perhaps the unintentional consequence of placing him on a line that just so happened to have Judd Caulfield placed on it also has finally broken his pointless drought but the kid needs a home and a “partner” to consistently play with if he is to grow his game and confidence. Right now he feels like a floater that the coaches don’t know where to put.

Tristan Luneau – and I do remember being asked about him on twitter sorry to whoever asked I forgot to reply – has also been quiet. He has just 5 points in 13 games and has gone stretches of two and three games without getting on the scoresheet. He hasn’t looked under any kind of malaise nor has he looked out of sorts, he has just been quietly contributing but not out right dominating. He is being a team player, not taking unnecessary risks to elevate himself over others or make the flashy play and he isn’t being forced to feel like he needs to put everything on his shoulders like he has had points last season. To summarize; I’m not worried about him – yes he can and should be dominating the scoresheet but he is doing his job and helping his team win and that is what is most important. The call-up will still come at some point and he will eventually graduate full-time once the Ducks clear some space but for now; he is doing all that he is being asked of him. Speaking of call-ups…

Depth Check

I don’t mean to jinx things but should the Ducks face a span of injuries and require some warm bodies I would be assuming things go in this order:

Forwards: Colangelo (obviously), Phillips, Washe and Caulfield. Yes that’s right Caulfield. The kid has earned it and is third on the team in goals while tied for fourth on the team in points. There were times last year where I said Sidorov was the next one up but that goes to show how quiet he has been in the early goings this season. He was quiet to start last season also though – watch for him to heat up after the All Star break.

Defense: The obvious choice is Luneau but as mentioned above – his numbers have been surprisingly average. Currently Nik Brouillard and Roland McKeown co-lead the team in scoring by defenders with 6 points in 13 games each. It would be a feel good story and heart warming moment for Brouillard to get his first NHL game in at age 30 (he would need to be signed to a PTO as he is under AHL contract though). Coming up right behind Luneau is Noah Warren – who has four points in 13 games and playing some of his best hockey since turning pro.

Standings Update

The win brings the Gulls record to 6-4-3 on the season and a .577 points percentage. Tied with San Jose and Henderson by points percentage but sixth in the division by points. They next face the also streaking Barracuda who have a five game point streak including wins over Ontario and Calgary but managed to drop one in OT to these same Canucks.